Marmite toast

Whenever I asked my British expat friends in China what food they missed most from home, they would often say “marmite”. I didn’t really know what marmite was, but I knew you could use it to make gravies and sauces. It turns out that marmite is the leftover yeast of the beer brewing process that is concentrated.

Many British people eat marmite plain on a slice of toast, so that’s what I set out to do. Marmite has a very strong flavor that I can only describe with that illustrious Japanese word “umami”. It’s very savory, meaty even, and also has a strong sourness to it. It’s too strong for me to eat plain on toast, but I can definitely see myself using it for a nice gravy.